Minor league games and notes

The Scranton Yankees played to a 6-6 tie today. I am going to start with some notes courtesy of Chad Jennings the beat writer for the Scranton Yankees, you can check out his blog at http://community.thetimes-tribune.com/blogs/yankees. Jorge Posada threw out a guy trying to run on him. Wang gave up 2 homeruns but the wind was terrible and on a normal day would of been fly outs. Chieng-Ming Wang pitched 5 innings giving up 9 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. He didn't have his best game but that is ok, the wind was bad and it was a minor league game where the focus isn't always the same. Zach Kroenke pitched 2 innings giving up 3 hits, 2 runs with 3 strikeouts. Jose Valdez pitched 2 innings giving up 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. The offense Eric Duncan going 2-3 with a homerun, triple and 4 rbi's. Edwar Gonzalez was 3-4 with a homerun, rbi and stolen base. Austin Jackson was 1-3 with a triple, Jorge Posada had a double in 4 plate appearances. Nick Swisher had a solo homerun. The Yankees traded Jason Jones to Minnesota for minor league reliever Charles Nolte. Jones was a rule 5 pick for Minnesota and when they decided to not put him on the team this year they made this trade. The guy they got in the trade is a 23 year old righty who was a 24th round pick in 2007. He had a 2.05 era in Low A ball last year. He has struck out 97 batters in 94.2 innings with 46 walks and holding opponents to a 230 batting average. He has a huge groundball tendency. Brian Bruney pitched in AA going 2 perfect innings wiht 4 strikeouts so he now has had solid back to back outings. Hideki Matsui was 2-3 with a double, hr and walk in the AA game.

Chicago Cubs at New York Yankees set for friday

The pitching matchups for the first 2 games at the New Yankee Stadium are set. These are 2 exhibitions but will be very exciting as everyone will get their first chance to see the New Stadium whether you are there or on TV. The games will be broadcast on the YES network starting friday at 6 with the pregame show followed by the game at 7:00PM and then on Saturday at 1:00PM. I will be attending the Saturday game and will have a writeup about the stadium sometime that evening when I get back home. I am very excited and can't wait to see the new stadium and all that it has to offer. The pitching matchups are for Fridays game: Ted Lilly vs Chieng-Ming Wang remember gates open at 4:05 for this 7:05 game and for any 7:05 games all season Saturdays game: Rich Harden vs AJ Burnett and Andy Pettitte, gates open at 10:05 for this 1:05 game and will be like this all season for the 1:05 games. This is a change as the gates used to open 2 hours before the game and now will open 3 hours before the game. I am sure the Yankees can't wait to hop on that plane Wednesday evening and head to NY after this long spring training and although it will be 2 exhibitions it won't feel that way.

Yankees recap and some notes

The New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves by a score of 6-4 today in Orlando. Brett Tomko started and pitched 3 innings giving up 0 runs, 3 hits a walk and strikeout. Alfredo Aceves also pitched 3 innings giving up 1 run, 2 hits a walk and strikeout. Dan Giese didn't help his chances which I think were long anyway by giving up 3 runs in 2 1/3 innings, only 1 was earned though, 3 hits, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. Joe Girardi after the game threw a curveball and said they may not carry a longman. Brett Tomko is clearly in the lead and you would think would win the job if they do carry a longman. The problem is if Tomko makes it they have to clear space on the 40 man roster for him. The offense had Mark Teixera going 2-2 with a rbi and walk. He hit a solo hr. Johnny Damon had a walk and rbi, Xavier Nady was 3-4 with a rbi. Robinson Cano was 1- 3 with a rbi being a solo homerun. Melky Cabrera is still fighting going 3-4. Cody Ransom was 1-4. The Yankees made some cuts after the game reassigning 8 guys to minor league camp. The 8 that were reassigned are Shelly Duncan, Todd Linden, John Rodriguez, Doug Bernier, Justin Leone, P.J. Pilittere, Chris Stewart and Dave Robertson. The only suprise here may be David Robertson, he pitched very well this spring: 8 innings, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and 12 strikeouts. He will be in AAA Scranton and if he continues to pitch well and one of the other guys are struggling or get hurt he will get another chance with the Big club. The Yankees will unveil a monument to the victims of Sept 11th at Steinbrenner Field tomorrow. The monument contains actual pieces of steel from the World Trade Center that were donated by retired NYC firefighters. There are two towers with the base being in the shape of a pentagon and on grass which represents the field one of the planes crashed into in Pennsylvania. Jennifer Swindal-Steinbrenner will represent the team, Joe Holland who is a retired NYC firefighter will throw out the first pitch. His son was killed in the North Tower. An armed forced color guard will be present along with representatives of local law enforcement agencies. Taps will also be played.

Spring Game 31: Yankees at Braves

Today is the battle of the long man. This will be Dan Giese, Alfredo Aceves and Brett Tomko's last chance to impress Joe Girardi and his coaches. I am guessing by early this week we will know the long man and CF, im guessing its Brett Tomko and Brett Gardner with Melky making the team as the backup OF. Wang is pitching to Jorge Posada back in Tampa in a minor league game with Nick Swisher and Hideki Matsui also playing in that game to get some extra at bats. The game is not being televised. Check the link below via Peter Abraham for more notes about the game and later on. Spring Game 31: Yankees at Braves Posted using ShareThis

Yankees minor league game and notes

The AAA Yankees tied Pittsburgh's AAA 5-5. Kei Igawa pitched 4 innings giving up 7 hits, 3 runs with 2 of them earned. He had 2 walks and strikeouts. He left the game early with tightness in his groin and will be checked out tomorrow. Mark Melancon pitched 2 innings giving up 1 hit, 0 runs and 2 strikeouts. Kevin Whelan also pitched 2 innings, giving up 1 hit and 1 run on a wind blown homerun. Kevin Russo was 2-4, Juan Miranda was 1-4. Edwar Gonzalez was 1-2 with a hr and 4 rbis. Colin Curtis returning from having a few days off was 1-2. Humberto Sanchez pitched a 1-2-3 inning for AA Trenton, his first action of the spring.